Doctor, I shrunk the Fillies...

Chapter 6, Part 1: Something Important

"Rarity! Rarityy! Hey, Rarity! You out here?"

Derpy called with the last of her breath, and inhaled deeply before continuing. She could feel her throat burning hotly and cracking from the strain. She didn't doubt her voice would either be hoarse or completely gone by tomorrow at this rate, but that hardly mattered beside what was at stake. She neglected to tell Rarity - as Derpy has friends who help work the weather, who know these things - that the rain was only supposed to get worse as the day went on. And it was supposed to hail, too, for some reason. Weird time for hail, she thought as she flitted in mid-air, her flanks getting smacked by big, heavy, cold drops of water. It's not even Fall yet; why would they schedule hail? She called out again, and her voice rebounded against the moist air. She sighed, and went to ground. Maybe I'll have better luck looking from down there?  As she descended, she heard something that sounded like singing. In this weather? Thoroughly distracted, she flew towards the singing. When she was sure she was getting close, she crashed into an object unseen.

Rarity was cold, she was wet, and she was tired. Her hooves slogged through the mud, and for the first time in ever, she didn't care that they were dirty. She had long since grown used to the numbness that had spread from her back, like a virus, to infect every pore in her body, until she had grown utterly immune to pain and discomfort. Her eyes were open but un-seeing, grown used to the constant soggy, filthy, brown landscape that she was permitted to see through the driving rain. She had also not heard anything but the pitter-patter and drip-dropping of rain; even Opal's incessant growling and hissing had ceased by now. The monotony had not been broken by lightning for what seemed to be an eternity; one spent slogging through muddy, swampy roads. Or, what she thought was a road. She couldn't tell.

So thoroughly entrenched in this quasi-existence was she that she couldn't hear her name being called from on high. That sound, too, went unregistered as background noise as she squelched her way forward. She heard it again, and once more, but still paid it no mind. I'm going insane, she thought. I remember something from one of Twilight's books on physiology; about how, if the brain is under-stimulated, it releases hormones or something to emulate outside influence. She giggled a little to herself, thinking how silly it was. She was freezing to death, and her last thoughts were on some dusty, well-worn book on the pony psyche. For a second, she turned her head, looking around. Then she realized that the noise was her own laughter. Maybe I should've spent this time talking to myself, she thought. I got startled by the sound of my own voice. I'm not sure if that means anything, but it's probably not good. So, she did the only thing she thought to do. Under her breath, she started singing. It was a tune from a long time ago, and as she started, she was surprised that she still knew all the words. She thought back on that time with fondness; even if she wasn't in the play, those were her first successes as a seamstress. She sung the now-familiar tune, with a growing fervor, as if singing it loud and clearly might actually save her life. Maybe it will, she mused. Maybe, somehow, this might do something about the weather. Or make a warm fire, or something. Logically, singing could do no more than whistling, skipping stones, or playing chess when it came to stopping the rain, but she'd also long since forgotten logic. So she kept singing.

Her melody reached its crescendo when she was struck full-force by what felt like a freight train. Opal's bag, its clasp replaced with a slapdash substitute some time during the last chapter, fell to the ground with a slap. Suddenly, Opal was a contained torrent of hissing and growling; no doubt threatening Rarity's parentage in whatever cat language it spoke - Rarity knew for a fact that there were three known, universal cat languages, and countless tribal ones, though she was fluent in none. She picked herself off the ground, face dripping with ooze, and made her way over to Opal's bag, where it had fallen along the roadside. She picked it up, and slung it around her neck, snug, before turning to see what hit her. She reeled back, surprised. There, sitting in a heap in the middle of the road and rubbing a no-doubt aching cranium with her fore-hoof, was the last pony she expected to see. Derpy looked up from the ground, and gave her a big, lopsided smile before running over to give her the biggest hug she'd ever received. Pinkie Pie's bear-hugs have nothing on this, she thought, struggling for breath. What seemed like a small eternity later, Derpy let her go, and she plunked down on the ground, gasping for breath. After she'd sufficiently recovered, she turned back to Derpy. She spoke, her voice still a stranger to her own ears.

"How'd you- when did- why- what are you doing out here?" The other mare smiled again, as her left eye began to drift lazily away to look at what was going on over there.

"Lookin' for you, silly. There was something important about the weather that I forgot to tell you before you left..." Her hoof went up to her chin, and her eyes squinted in thought. Despite the need to focus, her left eye was apparently pleased by the happenings of over there, and continued to act of its own volition.

"But...I can't remember what it was." She sat down on the road, both eyes closed, as she slapped at her head with a hoof.

"Think, Derpy, think! It was something important...Ah...Ugh...Aha! Got it!" She all-but jumped up, and both eyes were aglow with the triumph of successfully recalling something important, though the left one could have shown a little more attentiveness and apprehensiveness at Derpy's apparently-great achievement. In short, it was still looking at the tree line to her left.

"Hail! It's gonna hail later. Or was gonna hail later; it might be later, by now."

As if on cue, hard pellets of frozen water began to rain from the sky. Soon, both were wincing as they were bombarded by the fury of a thousand normally-consumable drops of ice. It was as if the heavens decided to enact vengeance on every sip of water they've ever taken ever. Rarity shouted, though without need, over the tumult that wasn't there.

"We - ah! - gotta move!"

Derpy only nodded, and as one, they dashed off into the trees. Neither knew where they were going, but wherever it was, Opal seemed determined to complain every step of the way.

Derpy's hooves flew over the hard-packed dirt of the forest, Rarity plodding along stoically behind. I hope I remember where this is, thought Derpy. She stopped to observe their surroundings, and Rarity nearly bumped into her. Despite the other's evident sleepiness, she side-stepped the collision with a subtle grace, despite the fact that she nearly fell on her face. For a second, Derpy was green with envy; how fair was it that any one pony could just make everything look so effortless? Rarity's your friend! How could you say that - think that, actually - about her? Derpy was immediately abashed, and took the bite out of her thoughts, but otherwise left them. It really wasn't fair.

Rarity shook herself out of a stupor, her hair falling back to its normal state with no effort on her part, and asked Derpy where they were.

"We're somewhere in the Eastwood; it's like a little piece of the Everfree, but without all the spooky goings-on. Wait here for a sec, I need to see where exactly we are." At Rarity's nod, she flapped her wings and went soaring above the treetops. As soon as she cleared the last canopy, the storm hit her like a wall of bricks, determined to bring her to ground. She persevered, pushing ever higher, until the whole of the land lay out before her. For all the criticism she received about her eyes, she was a natural with directions. Maybe not long-distance, but she could find her way around her house blindfolded, even with everything re-arranged. She saw, in her head's compass, where they were, and where they should be going. It was easy to spot from the sky; a barren stretch of land about five spans in width, surrounding a stand of thickly-leaved trees. Fixing the point in her mind, she flew - fell, more than flew - back down to where Rarity was waiting. Only after she touched down did she think that she might have hit a branch on her way down. She grimaced, and Rarity was quick to ask more questions.

"So, you know where we are, now." Not a question. She gave a huge yawn, behind her hoof, and continued.

"And where we're going, I presume?"

Derpy nodded, and pointed with her hoof in the general direction of the stand of trees she spotted from the air.

"Yeah; I know a good spot to weather out the weather," she smiled awkwardly at Rarity's grin.

"It's a small ways away, but it's closer than the house. And we can't go back out in that. Just flying up there for as long as I did was exhausting, and the house isn't even in sight."

Rarity only nodded, her grin fading, and motioned for Derpy to lead the way.

They ran for a little over a half-hour before coming to the naked strip of earth that separated them from the relative safety of Derpy's old hideaway. Truth be told, she'd been out of sorts for a time, and had taken to revisiting her foal-hood retreat. And a good thing, too, lest they'd have nowhere to go to wait out the storm. She tried to think of everything she had tucked away in her old cubby-hole, but she was too exhausted to do much thinking. That storm took more out of me than I expected, she thought. A huge, gaping yawn confirmed her thoughts, and she tried to shake away the sleep. It worked, somewhat, though she still felt unsteady and drawn. She looked over her shoulder at Rarity, who swayed to-and-fro from the sheer effort of staying upright. Her eyes were partially drawn, and it took a little shake to shake her out of her reverie. She smiled, a small smile, and admitted that she had apparently fallen asleep while standing up - not an uncommon thing to hear from anypony who was that tired. Derpy put a hoof around the other's shoulder, and pointed with her other towards their woody sanctuary.

"We're going there. It might take a little bit to find the entrance, but once we're inside, we'll be safe and snug." Rarity only nodded, still half-asleep, and together, they made for the stand of trees. They reached the trees with little in the way of harm, though hail still pounded the area around them with a fury. Why hail? Derpy turned back to Rarity.

"We need to find the entrance. It shouldn't be too hard, but we're gonna split up. You go around that way, and I'll go this way," Rarity nodded as Derpy continued, "if you find it, yell. And if I find it, I'll come get you, 'kay?" Another nod, which Derpy returned. In tandem, they worked their way around opposite sides of the trees. It wasn't too long before Derpy heard a shout from Rarity's side.

"Found it! I'm going in." Derpy shouted back.

"Alright, I'll be right there."

Derpy rounded the tree, and quickly found the entrance to her secret enclave. Rarity was nowhere about, already inside as the safety of the trees. Derpy followed, ducking under dangling roots and sliding through places where the walls almost met. After about a minute of dodging and scraping, she found herself in the large, open quasi-cave she remembered from her foal-hood. And for a wonder, everything was where she had left it, for the most part. Rarity's discarded banana-yellow rain attire made a neat, folded pile by the entrance, next to her matching galoshes. In the center was a stone-lined fire-pit, and in the corner was a bunch of seasoned fire wood, split and stacked just-so. In the adjoining space, much smaller than the large, central 'cavern', was a cot and a bunch of blankets. Also, stuck up in her top-secret cubby, she could just view her old diary, along with her secret stash of plastic-wrapped muffins. In case of muffin emergencies. She nodded to herself, pleased with how little had actually changed, and set about to making a fire.

The old wood caught quickly, aided by the dry leaves collected from around the den. Before too long, there was a warm fire blazing in the middle of the woody cavern. As it blazed, a warmth permeated into the air, replacing the chill that had been present when they initially arrived, and seeping into the two ponies. A series of ah's and ooh's announced the simultaneous relief from the cold and strain. As the tension seeped out of her, however, Derpy felt a deep weariness. Looking over at Rarity and catching her deep yawn, she knew, too, that Rarity was just as tired as she was. She stood up, ignoring Rarity's question, and went into the adjoining room. Quickly and practiced, she picked up the cot and all the blankets, and drug them back into the main room. She returned it to its unfolded state, and motioned for Rarity to take it. The other shrunk back in reply.

"I couldn't. It wouldn't be proper; this is your...er...cave, after all. You take the bed." Derpy shook her head.

"You're more tired. And anyway, it is my cave, and I say you take the cot." Her retort was interrupted by a huge yawn, debunking her argument entirely. Thankfully, Rarity didn't notice. She just yawned also, and murmured a little before she spoke again.

"I suppose, if you insist...I guess I could take the cot...If you're completely sure?" Derpy nodded.

"Well, thank you, then. Unless you want to share the cot, though?" Derpy looked at it, doubtfully, but it did seem large enough for them both. Rarity, taking her indecision for acceptance, started moving things from the floor to the cot. Five minutes later, they were both situated on the cot, the fire casting strange shadows on the wall. For a while, they talked. It was a rather awkward conversation, and not because they refused to acknowledge each-other's presence in the shared cot. Rarity had just broached the subject of Derpy's relationship with Dr. Whooves when the fire spluttered out, and Derpy hurriedly chimed in.

"Ohp, fire's out. Much as I'd like to talk some more about me and my life, I think I'm gonna go to sleep now. And you're more tired than I am; if I'm going to sleep, you should already be asleep."

Rarity, unable to debunk the other's logic - or the other's rump - decided to go to sleep. Coolly, she covered up with her allotted blanket, and made to sleep, as if it were her idea to begin with. Relieved, Derpy also started to drift. She thought about her life before meeting the Doctor, she thought about the weather, and for once she allowed herself to be enjoyed by entertaining thoughts putting her and the Doctor together. She heaved a deep sigh, and allowed the thoughts to dissipate. It won't happen; if it's not him, it'll be Dinky. Perfectly sullen, she rolled into her share of the blankets, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

"Wakey, wakey, sleepy-pants!"

The author grumbled from where he sat, head cradled in his arms."

"I'm not asleep."

"Oh. Well, I couldn't tell; lots of ponies look like that when I start talking - I mean really start talking - and when I'm all done, I find out that they slept through half the conversation! Ugh! Don't you hate it when ponies - or, I guess it'd be people, in your case - do that? It's a waste, is what! Waste of oxygen, waste of energy, and waste of time!"

The author raised his head just enough to hit Pinkie with his best flat-eyed stare.

"Are you done?" Pinkie Pie tilted her head, and turned her eyes to the ceiling, as if counting imaginary numbers imprinted therein. Then, she nodded.

"Yep. All done." She mock saluted, before saying in a very gruff voice, "As you were, fan-fiction writer." Then, she bounded off with resounding 'La-la-la's.

The author mumbled under his breath, and turned his attention back to the fan-fiction. As did the reader.

The sun shone through the tiniest hole in their piney alcove. From there, it went straight onto the outside of Derpy's right eyelid. Obeying her photosensitive nature, her eyes fluttered open of their own accord. She rolled over, and covered her head with her pillow, a trying to wish the sun away so that she could get more sleep. It took her a second to realize that, if the sun's shining through the top-most portion of the cave, it must be about noon. Checking the watch on her left fore-hoof - a convenient gift from a Doctor in a timeline where she didn't have the watch - her thoughts were confirmed. Quickly, she scrambled out of the cot, falling on her face in the process. Her hooves, tied as they were, were of little help as she attempted to wriggle her way out of her predicament. Just as she was nearly there, though, she felt the blankets coming off as of their own accord. Magic. She looked up, and standing there was Rarity, smiling large for everyone to see.

"I thought I'd get up a little early, and tidy up. Goodness knows how this place needed it." Derpy hadn't really noticed how dirty it had been before, but looking at it now, she could tell how dirty it had been. An ironic thought, considering their current setting, but she had to hoof it to Rarity; that pony could make even dirt presentable. And her methodo electiva was to replace everything.*

The first thing she noticed - after the stone-brick walls and flooring, completely encasing the room - was the large bookcase to her left, full to overflowing with articles of all shapes, sorts, and colors. Next was the door, to its immediate right, that presumably led to the way out. In front of it was a modest door mat, reading 'Welcome' in large cursive on its face. Just to her right of that was a coat tree, thereupon hanging Rarity's raincoat. The matching hat sat perched atop its apex, and her galoshes were set in neat pairs at its base. Continuing clockwise about the room, she saw a large painted, affixed to the wall as if by magic. Probably by magic, she thought. Next was a fireplace, made of solid marble, with two plush chairs sitting astride a piece of equally plush carpet. It even had a grate in it, to put the logs! Many more changes she noticed about her once-modest cave, and for as many exclamations of awe and surprise, Rarity responded to with reassurances that it had been 'no trouble at all'. The other had even devoted time to the adjoining room, turning it into a proper bedroom, complete with all the furnishings appropriate to its designated purpose. There was even a vanity, set up opposite the bed from a modestly-large wardrobe. As Derpy's jaw couldn't go lower without first unhinging itself, she averted her eyes for a few minutes. When she felt properly composed, she just stared about in wonder again. Rarity interrupted her thoughts with a question.

"Do you like it?"

"Like...it?"

"Yes; the changes I made? You know," Rarity shrunk back, a bit timid, now. "'Tidying up'?"

"Do I...like it?" Suddenly, Derpy had a wicked idea. She didn't know where it came from - she was considered by everyone a good-natured pony, and pranks were far-afield for her - nor why she pursued it, but she did.

"Do I like it? Rarity, I think you know what I think about the changes you made to my cave. Without my expressed permission, if I remember right." At each instance of 'your' and 'my', Rarity shrunk further away from her. On the outside, she looked furious - probably. Her forehead even had a vein pulsing, but that was from keeping a straight face, and trying not to giggle out loud. She held the silence, afraid that if she opens her mouth, that she will giggle. Rarity shrunk back some more, until it seemed that she couldn't get any smaller without poping out of existence. Finally, Derpy let a smile bloom on her face. She swept Rarity up in a tremendous hug, and started jumping in circles around what had been the fire pit. It was now replaced with a small fountain, gushing water down its perfectly-sculpted fjords and facets.

"I love it! IloveitIloveitIloveit!"

After making a third circuit around the fountain, spinning all the way, she put Rarity down. She looked slightly green, but she smiled nonetheless. She seemed a bit uneasy, and it wasn't Derpy's spinning about the fountain that did it.

"Oh, well. I'm glad you do." She tilted her head sideways, and squinted at one of the tapestries along the walls. She shook her head in disapproval and vexation, and sighed.

"Why in the world did I think using rubies was a good idea? The decor and landscape positively scream 'emerald'." She shook her head again. "Positively not my best work," she turned to face Derpy, "should I just re-do the whole thing? You know, 'start from scratch'? I'm absolutely positive that I can get it right this time." Derpy could only stare in awe - some more. Here was a pony who, from the ground down, re-designed and refurbished her secret foal-hood hideaway. Something about that...

"My book!" Rarity turned and looked at her questioningly.

"A book? Which one, darling? There's a whole shelf of them here; discounted, from the Ponyville library. They had too many copies - far too many, evidently - and when a generous buyer showed up to take them off their hooves, Spike was only happy to oblige me. Of course, Twilight wouldn't hear it, but then -"

"No, no! Not those books! I had...Uh...Ooh..." She fluttered nervously about the cave, looking for her lost book among the new decor. After finally discovering that it wasn't anywhere in sight, she settled into a chair with a sigh.

"It's gone. Just like that." Rarity timidly moved over to her satchel, and from there, produced the exact book she had been looking for. Sheepishly, Rarity asked.

"You meant this book, didn't you?" Frantic, Derpy snatched it away from Rarity, and quickly inspected the pages for anything torn or ripped. Rarity simply stood there, kicking imaginary dirt around the -so-clean-you-can-eat-off-it floor.

"I didn't tear or rip anything; I have more respect for literature than you're willing to accredit me. I did read a little of it, though. Is this some kind of journal from your foal-hood?" Derpy snapped the book shut in Rarity's face, causing the other to draw back just a tad. She sighed, and sat back down in the chair.

"You could say that. It's kind of a journal, but more of a memory aide. I suffered recurring amnesia as a filly, see, so I had to keep everything written down in here," she waved the book for emphasis, "so that I would remember who my parents were, or the difference between my right and my left, things like North, South, East & West, the alphabet, et cetera, et cetera." Rarity only sat there for a second.

"Do you still suffer recurring amnesia?"

"Not as often as I used to, but I've made a habit of it. Dr. Whooves says I got really good at it - writing, that is - that I might have been, or could be, a writer if I wanted to." Rarity nodded. Derpy was going to continue, but she was cut off by Rarity's shush movement. She went to her satchel, and produced from therein her own diary. It was, in true Rarity fashion, gem-studded, but not too profusely. Along the binding, the top and the bottom were rows of inset sapphires - to match her eyes - and in the middle of the cover, amethysts, arranged in painstakingly-difficult pattern, spelled out 'Rarity's Diary'. Derpy looked at her questioningly.

"It's something my friends and I do. The ones at the spa, I mean. Lotus, Aloe, Fluttershy; others, too. Anyway," she nodded her head to her diary, "when we want somepony to join our little inner-circle, we offer to swap diaries. It was Aloe who first did this with me, a few months ago, and now we're close as sisters. Which is, what you'll effectively be. If you want, that is." Derpy looked at her own, comparatively-rugged diary with uncertainty.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I just thought that it might be difficult making friends with your...Disposition." Rarity had moved to put her diary away, when Derpy snatched it out of her hooves. Rarity, surprised, turned to look at a smiling Derpy, who freely offered her own diary to Rarity. Rarity took it, and put in in her satchel - making sure to keep it in a different pocket from where she stuffed Opal the night before. Suddenly, she bolted upright; Opal was not to be found. She related the news to Derpy, who sat grim-faced. Then, her face was covered with a wry smile.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to find your cat. Come on, she couldn't have gone very far with her disposition." Taking the hint, Rarity followed her new-found friend out of the cave. Talking over her shoulder, Derpy asked a question.

"By the way, how long did it take you to do what you did in there?" Rarity, nonchalantly, answered.

"A few hours, at maximum. I woke up not an hour after I fell asleep, and just couldn't stand how dirty an environment we were in." Derpy was dumbfounded.

"But...The bookcase. And books. And marble fireplace. Fountain, floors, bedroom!" Rarity nodded.

"In a few hours?" Another nod. Derpy shook her head in wonder.

"When you're inspired - or peeved, I guess - you could make contract workers jealous." Rarity's eyes shone with the compliment.

"Truly?"

"Absolutely," they emerged into the sunlight, Derpy screening her eyes with a hoof. "Now, let's go find Opal."

End of chapter